Housing benefit: Boris welcomes crumbs of comfort

Boroughs are to have the (probably temporary) discretionary power to arrange for Local Housing Allowance payments to be made directly to landlords in return for lowering their rents. Existing claimants will be exempt from the effects of the caps and lowered LHA rates for "up to nine months" from the date of the annual review of their claim, and boroughs will be able to seek a share of £60 million allocated nationally to help local authorities deal with the extra workload. Read More: